Part 45

My colleagues salute you earnestly, and commend this Church, with all possible zeal, to your faithfulness and wisdom.--Yours,

JOHN CALVIN.

It will be desirable to conceal this letter, lest our men hear of it.[466]

[_Lat. orig. autogr.--Archives of Zurich._ Gest. vi. 105, p. 515.]

[466] In Calvin's own hand.

CCCXXXVI.--TO BULLINGER.

Fresh details regarding ecclesiastical discipline--hope of speedy realization--announcement of the publication of a book against the errors of Servetus.

GENEVA, _30th December 1553_.

The messenger arrived six days after I had received your letter. The people of Schaffhausen give a pious and judicious reply; those of Bâle give a very meagre response; they offer us almost no advice, sending us simply a copy of their edicts, without, however, pronouncing any judgment. Our brother, Sulzer, earnestly apologizes for not having been able to accomplish more. And I can perceive, in various ways, indeed, most upright and respected brother, how strenuously you have exerted yourself in our behalf; nor do I doubt but that our friend Gualter performed his part also. Whatever may have happened, I feel that I owe more to your singular faithfulness and remarkable zeal, than I am able to express. But the Lord, in whose cause you have made such endeavours, will give you his reward. Assuredly my affection for you will not be found wanting. Nothing has as yet been done in the Senate, the letters being still in the hand of the translator. Seeing that we have to do with very base calumniators, they will get up various quarrels with us. I expect, however, either victory, or a satisfactory winding up of the matter. As soon as anything has been effected, I shall see to it that you be informed of it. For it will be a matter of common gratulation to us, if the event turn out according to our wishes. The pamphlet against Servetus, in which I have set forth that argument which you wished me to employ, was published at the late Frankfort Fair.[467] With respect to those matters which the men at Bâle are making a clamour about, and of which I complained to you, I resolved to spare their reputation, and have done so, lest the disgrace of a few men should bring dishonour on the whole Church;[468] and certainly they deserve to be overwhelmed in eternal oblivion. The progress of events convinced me of what had not previously occurred to me, viz., that your letter concerning Servetus, should be inserted in the book; and trusting to your kindness, I took the liberty of inserting it. Should you not approve of my plan, however, I shall endeavour to remedy it. Adieu, very distinguished sir, illustrious minister of Christ, and revered brother. May the Lord continue to guide you by the spirit of wisdom and fortitude, and to protect your Church.

[467] This is the book against the errors of Michael Servetus.--_Opera_, tom. viii.; and _Opuscules_, p. 230. The Registers of Council contain the following intimation on the subject of this work:--"Calvin has represented to the Council, that at the request of the Swiss Churches, he is about to publish a book, containing an account of the opinions of Servetus: and that he has not been so bold as to commit it to the press without the permission of the Council, assuring it that this book contains nothing not conformable to the word of God, or dishonourable to the city. Agreed to permit Calvin to print it; 11th December 1553." This book, as establishing the right of magistrates to punish heresy by the sword, has given occasion to the most violent controversies.

[468] Calvin had written, what he then suppressed: _De Curione et Similibus_. The condemnation of Servetus was disapproved of by certain of the professors of the Academy of Bâle, among whom is to be found the celebrated Italian refugee, Celio Secondo Curione, and Sebastian Castalio.

Salute earnestly in my name your colleagues, and your family. My colleagues, MM. Celso Martinengo and Budé, and the other brethren, respectfully salute you.--Yours truly,

JOHN CALVIN.

[_Lat. Copy.--Library of Zurich. Coll. Simler_, tom. 80.]

CCCXXXVII.--TO FAREL.[469]

[469] Whilst the number of refugees was increasing at Geneva and the other towns of Switzerland, their wants were provided for by liberal charitable donations. This was the origin of the _Bourse Etrangère_ founded at Geneva, and whose revenues are applied, even in our own day, to the support of poor students, or to the establishing of new schools.

Assistance afforded to the faithful refugees in Switzerland--reply of the Churches on the subject of ecclesiastical discipline.

GENEVA, _30th December 1553_.

Good men have indeed sent money to be laid out on the banished brethren and the exiles. They have ordered one part to be distributed among us, and they have designed the other two parts for the poor of Lausanne and your own city. Our friend Beza caused twenty-five gold pieces to be handed over to them. However, as but few exiles have hitherto gone among you, so far as I know, especially of that sort which is so numerous here, might you not, if you are not in immediate need, expend at your own discretion what would relieve the necessity of others? I do not ask you, certainly, to make a remission to us, but I wished to advise you on the matter, that if it should seem proper to you, you might transmit a certain sum to those who are in urgent need of money. Nevertheless, I do not dictate any course to you, but fearing, as I did, that you might be troubled with some doubts about how to act, I thought it better to anticipate them. The messenger has at length returned from the Helvetian Churches. Our Council will meet with a disappointment to-morrow in their replies. I expect a great deal of quarrelling, the issue of which, however, will perhaps turn out more fortunately than the wicked, who are now beginning to get crestfallen, had previously calculated upon. But there is in the other respect no cordiality. When we shall have completed the contests which are in store for us, I shall write you the whole more fully. Adieu, most upright brother, assist us with your prayers.

The men of Zurich prudently dissuade from making any change. Those of Bâle, without interposing any judgment, send a written copy of their own edicts. The people of Schaffhausen are the most judicious of all. Our neighbours push it coldly aside; a thing which I expected from the first. Salute your brethren and friends earnestly in my name. May the Lord be ever with you to guide you.--Yours,

JOHN CALVIN.

[_Lat. orig. autogr.--Library of Geneva._ Vol. 107, _a_.]

CCCXXXVIII.--TO AN ITALIAN LADY.[470]

[470] No date. Printed with this designation: _D. Agneti Anglæ_. But the text of the letter itself proves that it is addressed to an Italian lady named Agnès. We find a person of this name among the members of the Reformed Church of Ferrara. _Opera Olympiæ Moratæ_. Edit. of 1580, p. 115. Is it not to this lady that is addressed the message of the Reformer, the date of which ought apparently to be placed in 1553, the time of the dispersion of the Evangelical church formed in the capital of the Dukes of Este?

He exhorts her to withdraw, by a voluntary exile, from the persecution and idolatry reigning in Italy.

[1553.]

Though I knew, noble lady, that you would have need of an interpreter to understand my letters, yet some friends have encouraged me to write to you, or rather they have warmly pressed on me the accomplishment of that duty. But for that purpose I have made choice of the Latin language, because I was confident that you would find about you many persons to translate it into Italian, whereas the knowledge of French is unknown, or very rare among you. And first of all, that my letter may not fail in its effect, I must entreat you not to refuse it a favourable reception. This request I am sure I shall obtain of you, if you reflect on the object I have in view. Moreover the persons, by whose recommendation I write, pledge themselves that of your own accord and willingly you will do what I ask of you. Nor indeed would it be consistent with your piety to slight a person whom you acknowledge to be one of the servants of Christ, especially when he speaks from zeal for your salvation. And indeed I have just reason to begin with congratulating you, for I hear that you have embraced the faith of the gospel in such a manner that nothing is dearer to you than the pure worship of God; a singular zeal for which ought to predominate in the minds of all those who have truly tasted the sweetness of that grace which is offered to us in Christ. For to that end the Son of God has manifested himself, and daily lays before us his treasures, that, renouncing the allurements of the world, we should meditate on the life which is in heaven. To that end also, God regenerates us by the incorruptible seed of his doctrine, that our whole life may bring forth the fruits of justice corresponding to his holy adoption. Many indeed in these days impiously make a mock of Christ, seeking in his doctrine a cloak for their licentiousness. But we see in what terrible ways God punishes these acts of sacrilege. It is to me, however, a subject of rejoicing, that you on the contrary have concentrated all your thoughts on this point: namely, by holiness of life to add lustre to the gospel. And hence it appears that the gospel has struck deep and lively roots in your heart. But because, in the present day, the world abounds in numberless seductions, it behoves you not only to be animated with a right frame of mind to hold on your Christian course, but also to be armed with invincible courage to carry on your warfare under Christ your heavenly leader. For at the present day impiety has gained such ground, and especially among you the tyranny of Antichrist rages to such an extent, that you cannot, without much peril and many struggles, offer to God an unpolluted worship. Of which thing you are yourself the best witness; and in this the strength of your piety shines out most conspicuously, not only that you do not, like too many, indulge in the prevailing vices, but because, in your wisdom, you see to how wretched a slavery you are condemned in your own country, you had rather submit to a voluntary exile than remain entangled among the defilements which contaminate you. Now since God has roused you up to this point, I conceive that it is also incumbent on me to add a new impulse to your zeal, and further this holy resolution of yours. If, where you now are, it were in your power not to defraud God of that obedience which is due to him, I should persuade you to remain rather than abandon your country, to seek a far-distant and foreign land, by a tedious journey, at great expense, and with immense inconvenience. But when the threats and terrors of the enemies of Christ do not permit you to make such a profession of your faith as becomes you, the infirmity of the flesh is also an impediment to you; so that I have no hesitation in advising and urging you to make your escape as speedily as possible from these deadly entanglements. And even if I had been silent, it is impossible that the goads of your own conscience should not incessantly stimulate you to look out for a remedy. Meanwhile you must be on your guard not to cut yourself off from an opportunity of departure, by spinning out the time uselessly in deliberations. No doubt, in so arduous a matter, nothing is to be attempted rashly; but if the will of God do not appear obscure to you, you cannot, without serious wrong, long agitate, with an irresolute purpose, first one point and then another. Resolve then seriously that what God has enjoined is to be immediately executed, and, at the same time, without procrastinating, make ready for your journey. Nor let the vain and flattering fallacies with which most persons impose on themselves delay you, but let this reflection be ever present to your mind, that the confession of our faith is too precious a thing in God's sight, to permit us to consider it as a slight offence to wallow in impure superstitions. Add to this, that at present, like a famished sheep, you are wandering out of Christ's fold and pastures in a barren desert. Nor does it escape me how difficult and painful a thing it is for you to emigrate from your country, to live on a foreign soil far away from your kinsfolk, at your advanced age not only to change your habitation, but forego all those little comforts, of which it were hard and cruel, even in the prime of life, to be deprived. To all this I have but one consideration to oppose, but which, I trust, you will deem amply sufficient. It is this: if we have had a due foretaste of the life which is in heaven, there is nothing upon earth of such importance as to abate our ardour in the pursuit of the heavenly blessing. Moreover, the Son of God, not only because we owe him such a debt of gratitude, but also because he is possessed of supreme power, deserves that we should prefer his honour to all the honours, delights, riches, and comforts of the world. And were it permitted us to inhabit a place where God is worshipped, and his name invoked in purity, it were far better to live in exile there, than to live at ease in our own country, from which Christ, the sovereign of heaven and earth, is banished. Even if no necessity compelled you to quit the nest, yet you were no daughter of God, if this earthly life did not seem to you a pilgrimage. But now when the sacrilegious tyranny of Antichrist expels you from it, and God calls you with a loud voice to go forth; let not the condition of your peregrination seem painful to you, till the time when at last he shall bring us all together into his eternal inheritance. Noble and illustrious lady, for whom I shall always cherish an esteem, farewell. May the Lord direct you by the Spirit of his wisdom, increase your fortitude and constancy, and shelter you by his protection.

[_Calvin's Lat. Corresp._ Opera, tom. ix. p. 80.]

CCCXXXIX.--TO A SEIGNEUR OF JERSEY.[471]

[471] To a Seigneur of the neighbouring Isle of Normandy. Without date: 1553?

The English Isles of Jersey and Guernsey had a share in the religious revolutions of England during the reign of Mary and Elizabeth. Already during the reign of Edward VI. the Isle of Guernsey possessed a French Protestant Church, of which the pastor Denis Le Vair was tortured in 1555 in Rouen: Beza, _Hist. Eccl._ Vol. 1. p. 95. The Church of Saint Helier in Jersey has been perpetuated to the present time.

Christian exhortations--sending of a minister.

[1553.]

DEAREST SEIGNEUR AND BROTHER,--We praise God for having inclined your heart to try if it will be possible to erect, by your means, a small church on the place where you reside. And indeed according as the agents of the Devil strive by every act of violence to abolish the true religion, extinguish the doctrine of salvation, and exterminate the name of Jesus Christ, it is very just that we should labour on our side to further the progress of the gospel, that, by these means, God may be served in purity, and the poor wandering sheep may be put under the protection of the sovereign Pastor to whom every one should be subject. And you know that it is a sacrifice well pleasing to God, to advance the spread of the Gospel by which we are enlightened in the way of salvation, to dedicate our life to the honour of him who has ransomed us at so costly a price in order to bear rule in the midst of us. Therefore we pray you to take courage, as we supplicate at the same time the Father of all virtue to confirm you in your holy purpose. Meanwhile, because we have heard that you desire to be assisted by us, and to have a man proper for the work of edification, we have not wished to be a wanting to our duty. We present to you then our brother, the bearer of this letter, who has shewn us by deeds by what zeal he was animated. He has had such a conversation among us that we doubt not but that his life will be an excellent example. His doctrine is pure, and as far as we can judge, those who will content themselves with being taught by him in simplicity, and will shew themselves docile, will be able to profit by his preaching. We do not beg you to give him a kind welcome, being convinced of your favourable dispositions. Only deign to let him feel by experience that his labour among you is not in vain.

Whereupon, dearest Seigneur and brother, having affectionately commended us to your prayers, we will supplicate the heavenly Father to continue to have you in his holy keeping, to increase in you his spiritual gifts, to govern you in such a manner by his Spirit, that his name may be more and more glorified in you.

[_Fr. copy.--Library of Geneva._ Vol. 107.]

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Transcriber's note:

Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.

The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

There was no CHAPTER CXLVI in the book, but there were two chapters CLXVIII. These were renumbered thus matching the table of contents.

Page 89: The transcriber has inserted a dash to replace the blank area.